AVIATION IN FRANCE JOUEDAIN. 153 



vertical nidder prevents the apparatus from clianffing its direction, 

 as it would tend to do on account of the greater resistance endured 

 by the wing that is warped. 



Great fears of fatalities were expressed when experiments in 

 aviation were first undertaken, and I have frequently heard well- 

 meaning persons say: " But there is no future for aviation, because it 

 is so dangerous. You can rise, but you can not descend ; you may 

 ride in a machine sustained in the air only by virtue of its great 

 speed. To descend, j^ou must slow down, and since the machine will 

 no longer be sustained in the air, you will fall. Even though you are 

 flying only at a moderate height a catastrophe will surely result. If, 

 on the other hand, by using your horizontal rudder, you should 

 approach the earth, your speed still being TO or 100 kilometers an 

 hour, when you reach level ground your aeroplane Avill come in 

 violent contact with the earth, as an automobile would smash into a 

 wall. In an}^ case there would be a catastrophe." 



Experience has proven the falsity of these fears. Neither one nor 

 the other of these methods of descent is relied on exclusively. The 

 angle of inclination of the planes is diminished at the same time that 

 speed is lessened, and thus descent is made gradually, until at the 

 last moment, with a slight luff up in the air, the machine alights 

 gently, like a bird, on the ground. 



Erom the statements of M. Painleve these landings have been quite 

 sure, quite gentle, and at the same time much more easily accomplished 

 than certain balloon landings of which I bear sad recollections. 



The second school of experimenters, those who prefer automatic 

 longitudinal equilibrium, has as its principal exponents the Voisin 

 brothers, two men who may truly be ranked among the creators of 

 the science of aviation in Erance. The followers of this school have 

 taken upon themselves to produce a machine which by its form alone 

 will be stable and will automatically retain its position of equilibriinn. 

 They have attempted to realize this ideal so far as longitudinal 

 equilibrium is concerned by the great longitudinal spread they have 

 given to their machines. To secure transversal equilibrium they have 

 utilized quite happily the ideas of Chanute and Hargrave, embody- 

 ing the use of compartments. 



Santos Dumont, first of all, had an apparatus built composed of six 

 sustaining compartments and one compartment for steering and bal- 

 ancing, but the large number of vertical sides was superfluous, for 

 these serve only to make the machine more stable and do not aid in 

 sustaining it; consequently they are dead weight and useless. This 

 school has retained the general idea of Santos Dumont, but has 

 greatly simplified it. Eor instance, the principle of the compartment 

 is still found in the Voisin aeroplane, but the compartment is reduced 

 to useful dimensions. We likewise find the characteristic balancing 



